Frame for bicycles



A. H. PETTIT.

. FRAME FOR BIGYCL'ES,

No. 595,459. Patented Deo. 14,1897.

1 UNITED STATES- PATENT y Erice.

ALBERT H. PETTIT, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

FRAM E Fo'R BloYo LES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,459, dated December 14, 1,897.

Application inea December 26,1896. semi No. 617,070. (No man.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that 1, ALBERT H. PETTIT, of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Frames for Bicycles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in frames for bicycles, and has for its object the construction of the frame which will provide a spring action or vertical movement of the horizontal member of the frame to produce an easy riding of the bicycle, while at the same time avoiding any variation of the distance between the seat and the pedals. This object is. accomplished by extending the bottom fork of the frame, to which the rear wheel is secured, beyond or in rear of said wheel and by uniting the outer ends of said fork to the upper member of the frame, preferably to the upper end of the seat-post member, by a horizontal connection of wood or spring metal.

The inventionWill be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and to the claim appended to this speciflcation.

In said drawings, Figure l represents in side elevation the rear end of a bicycle-frame constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the upper horizontal member of a bicycle-frame of any approved construction, and B the seatpost member of such a frame, at the lower end of which is mounted the usual crank-axle hanger B. .C C are the bottom-fork members, suitably secured in a familiar manner at their forward ends to extending thimbles b b upon the hanger B. At the u'sual distance from the crank-hanger B', and what would in the ordinary construction be the rear end of said fork members O C of the frame, I place a slotted bearing-bracket C to accommodate the rear axle of the wheel, which latter is indicated by dotted lines C2. This bearing-bracket C may be secured to the fork member C in any convenient manner. In lieu of the usual construction in bicycleframes-namely, the placing of the forks to extend between the wheel-bearings at the outer end of the bottom-fork member C and the upper end of the seat-post member, as in diamond frames-I extend the two fork members C Crearwardly to a point beyond the wheel C2, as more clearly shown in Fig. l, and connect the outer end c of the said fork members C C with the upper end of the member B of the frame bya curved resilient member D. This connection may be made in any suitable manner, but I have shown for the purpose of illustration merely an angle-iron d and bolts and nuts d cl2, and as shown in Fig. 2 the angle-iron d is preferably made of such width as to extend across the space between the ends c c and thus act as atie-plate to keep the ends c c from spreading, while at the same time firmly uniting the ends c c to the resilient bar members D D. As a further means of strengthening the frame Isometimes use a tie bolt or rod E. This rod E, which is shown as formed by a single piece bent upon itself to stand with its two members in parallel relation,is secured at its lower end to the fork members C C by inserting its ends through Ithe said fork members adj acent to thepoint of attachment of the bearing-brackets of the rear axle, and said ends are held in position by nuts e, secured on the screw-threaded ends of said rod E. The upper portion of the rod E stands at right angles to the parallel side members thereof and is pivotally secured against the under side of each of said resilient members D D by means of a bracket E", secured by screws e or otherwise, the middle or right-angled portion of said rod E being shown more clearly at e2 in Fig. 3.

As shown in the drawings, the resilient members D D of the frame are made of wood, and in practice I find that this construction gives the very best results; but I do not desire to be limited thereto, since it will be perfectly obvious that resilient metal, such as springsteel, maybe also used. Neither do I desire to IOO be limited to the details of construction shown, i

as they may be varied Withoutdeparture from the spirit of the invention.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

In a bicycle-frame, the combination with the bottom-fork members thereof, said fork members being extended rearwardly beyond the rear-wheel axle and the seat-post member, of a resilient spring removably mounted in said frame and secured at one end to the rear ends of said bottom members and at its opposite end to the upper end of said seatpost member and a brace extendingbetween ALBERT H. PETTIT.

Witnesses;

P. H. PRIEUR, A. H. BROWNE. 

